Χειμάρρα (1) [Prinz Heinrich, Kerkerak, Heimara, Kodja Eli, Kocaeli]

[Nicholas Peppas]

In http://www.nautilia.gr/forum/showthr...t=23490&page=6 I presented some information about the fist Heimarra passenger ship in the Greek seas. Heimarra, or Chimara as she is spelled in many anglosaxonic publications and sites, was the well known passenger ship Prinz Heinrich built in the Oderwerke Shipyards in 1904 for the Misdroy Steamship Co. According to Miramar

IDNo: 5602302 Year: 1904
Name: PRINZ HEINRICH Launch Date:
Type: Passenger ship Date of completion: 6.04
Flag: DEU Keel:
Tons: 358 Link:
DWT: Yard No: 544
Length overall: LPP: 50.3 Beam: 7.7
Builder: Stettiner Oderwerke
Material of build: Location of yard: Stettin-Grabow
Speed(kn): 2T-10
Owner as Completed: DG Misdroy GmbH (Schwengback), Stettin
End: 1942
Subsequent History: 18 KERKERAK - 22 HIMARRA - 24 KODJA ELI - 29 KOCAELI
Disposal Data: BU Fener 1942

Original German data give a more accurate picture of the ship. She had 358 tons. Her length was 60 m (not 50.3 m as noted in Miramar above) and her width was 7.6 m. She had two triple expansion engines and achieved a service speed of 13 knots. It must be noted that the Dutch site http://vloot.web-log.nl/vloot/j_groe...cht/index.html that describes her as Kerkerak (1918-22) gives the wrong length as well; in addition it gives a speed of just 9 knots!

She was purchased by Chandris in 1922 (not in 1923 as Miramar stated in the corrected records). In the wonderful book by Peter Plowman's Chandris Liners book http://www.nautilia.gr/forum/showthr...t=54710&page=2 one can read just five lines on page 7 about the first Chandris passenger ship.

In 1922 John Chandris expanded into the passenger trade when he purchased a small vessel, the 300 gross ton Chimara, which he placed on a ferry service between Piraeus and Corinth

Here is an ad from Embros of July 21, 1922 for "excursion to Spetses" every Saturday. Of course she is spelled Heimarra.

19220721 Heimarra.jpg

She was leaving Piraeus every Saturday at 3:00 pm for Aegina, Methana, Poros, Hydra and Spetses with arrival there at 8:00 pm. A very interesting statement is the following.

The passengers have the right to stay on the ship during the night

And then

Return from Spetses (with) departure at midnight on Sunday

To me, all this sounds like a very early cruise in Saronikos gulf!

This was not a good time for Chandris to introduce his first passenger ship...

First on the 26th, Methana was shaken by a serious earthquake that led to the evacuation of the whole town and interruption or regular service to Methana and Poros!

19220727 Methana.jpg

But the major reason were the black clouds appearing in the horizon with the retreat of the Greek army in Asia Minor... By the beginning of August, Athens was in a state of panic and there was no interest whatsoever in vacationing and quasi-cruises... By the 20th of August large numbers of refugees were arriving in Athens, the Gounaris government fell, and most of the passenger ships were requisitioned and sent to Chios and Mytilene waiting for request for help from Smyrna, Kydonies, Adramyttion and other Greek centers.

I did not see another ad of Chimara (or Heimarra) in Embros for the rest of the year or in 1923... At the end of 1923, Chimara was sold to the Turkish army (of all interests) and named Kocaeli, the Turkish name for Pontoherakleia. She was scrapped twenty years later in... Fener (the Greek Fanari).